Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Social Sciences in the 21st Century
Year: 2025
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An Investigation of Perfectionism Profiles among Adolescents based on the Career Construction Model of Adaptation
Büşra Kökçam, Zeliha Traş
ABSTRACT:
Personality is a crucial factor in shaping persons’ roles, relationships, and overall well-being. Although theory and evidence indicate that perfectionism is a significant personality construct with links to various outcomes in academic, social, and emotional development, there are few theory-driven studies examining its impact on career development. According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, occupational identity formation is the most challenging process for young people who experience an identity crisis across various aspects of their lives during adolescence. Recent studies highlight that multidimensional perfectionism, encompassing perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns, has contrasting effects on career outcomes. This study aimed to investigate the effects of various combinations of perfectionistic strivings and perfectionistic concerns on adolescents’ occupational identity formation using the career construction model of adaptation with a longitudinal design and a person-centered data analysis approach. First, five perfectionism profiles were identified among 1391 adolescents and compared with existing models in the literature. Second, to capture dynamic nature of career adaptability, measurements were conducted at three different points over an academic year, revealing three career adaptability change trajectories (latent growth classes). The career adaptation responses of adolescents with different change trajectories were then compared. Finally, the transition patterns from perfectionism profiles to career adaptability growth classes were analyzed using latent transition analysis. At each stage of the analyses, potential covariates (e.g., age, gender) were examined to assess their significance as predictors of the models. The results are expected to contribute significantly to career counseling, both theoretically and practically.
Keywords: career adaptability, occupational identity, three-step approach, finite mixture models, longitudinal design